International Operating Engineer - Spring 2015

Canadian News
Local 115 Fights BC Hydro Over Union Pact
IN 1961, British Columbia Premier
W.A.C. Bennett proposed the
construction of a number of new dams
along the Peace and Columbia rivers,
including a massive, 2,800MW project
that would later bear his name. These
dams would form the basis of a modern
economy in the province, and would
set the standard for renewable energy
production in western Canada.
However, it wasn’t long after first
proposing the project that Bennett
became concerned about the potential
for labour disruptions and a lack of
skilled workers on these vital, and
expensive, mega-projects. To avoid any
potential disruptions, he oversaw the
formation of the Allied Hydro Council,
a body representing all of the trade
unions, including IUOE Local 115. The
Allied Hydro Council in turn signed a
single contract that promised no strikes
or lockouts. Labour harmony was
achieved, and numerous dams were
constructed or retrofitted without any
unnecessary disruptions.
All of that has changed with B.C.’s
latest dam project, as anti-union
government ideology replaces the triedand-true
pragmatism of Bennett.
The Site C Clean Energy Project is
an 1,100 megawatt dam slated to be
built on British Columbia’s Peace River.
Unlike all of the modern dams before
it, the provincial government and B.C.
Hydro have decided to force an ‘open
site’ model for the project, rejecting the
Allied Hydro Council model completely.
B.C. Hydro and the provincial
government even went so far as to
propose site terms that would bar any
union organizing on the site. IUOE Local
115 Business Manager Brian Cochrane
wasn’t about to take that lying down.
“We had to take B.C. Hydro to court,
just to get BC’s Premier Christy Clark
[above] L to R: IUOE 115 Business Manager Brian Cochrane with Brother Jack Whittaker, past
IUOE 115 president, in front of provincial legislature in Victoria, BC.[photo] IUOE Local 115
to come out and admit that under
the constitution of Canada, unions
absolutely do have a right to go to Site
C and organize. Fortunately the Premier
came out right after we filed suit, and
said Hydro was wrong,” Cochrane said.
“However, that was only the first
skirmish in a larger war. The bottom
line is, they want to keep us off this
project as much as they can get away
with, and we won’t take it. We’re not
just going to shut up and go away, we’re
going to fight this every step of the way,”
Cochrane added.
Cochrane has been active across the
province, leading the charge among
the B.C. Building Trades to ensure the
Allied Hydro Council continues to form
the basis for any labour agreements at
the site.
Cochrane recently travelled to the
provincial capital of Victoria, joined
by long-time Local 115 member and
past President Jack Whittaker, to lobby
senior government officials directly.
Brother Whittaker, now 78, was a
unionized worker on the construction
of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam back in
1964. Whittaker now owns and manages
a unionized construction company,
and knows just what kind of risks come
to large-scale projects without a labour
agreement.
Whittaker called the government’s
plan for an open-managed site “foolish”,
adding, “I’m here as a concerned
citizen of B.C. because they are going
to escalate that job. They are going to
extend the time frame. They are saying
10 years. They’ll be lucky to do it in 15
years if they do it open shop because it
will be chaos.”
Cochrane echoed Whittaker’s
message.
“Could you imagine a $9 billion
dollar project, with thousands of
workers, and no comprehensive labour
agreement? Highly skilled craft workers
would be moving around the job site
from one company to the next, seeking
slightly better salaries and benefits,
or running from bad managers. These
contractors would have no way of
keeping their workers; they’d be
constantly tugging at each other’s work
force. And the workers would have no
grievance system, so all of these little
disagreements would blow up into huge
disruptions. It will be total anarchy.”
That message is being delivered by
Operating Engineers and their allies
throughout the province. The B.C.
Monument Dedicated at Local 793
Head Office
A CEREMONY WAS held April 28
at Local 793’s head office in Oakville
to dedicate a monument to honour
members of the union who’ve died in
construction site accidents or from
occupational illnesses.
IUOE General President James T.
Callahan attended and spoke at the
event.
The ceremony was held on Canada’s
Day of Mourning. A minute’s silence
was observed during the ceremony.
The monument and garden consist
of an entranceway, three outer arches
and two inner arches with garden
elements and outdoor lighting.
There is a seven-foot diameter IUOE
logo cast in bronze at the centre of the
monument, symbolically locating the
union at the heart of the structure.
Names of 36 deceased Local 793
members have been engraved on the
columns of the monument.
The monument will provide a place
of reflection for Local 793 members and
Building Trades have even created a
website, www.buildsitectogether.com,
where members of the general public
can voice their support for the Building
Trades in their campaign to ensure that
B.C.’s latest dam stays union.
Cochrane remains confident that the
Operating Engineers will win the fight.
“One way or another, this dam is
going to be built Union. This is our
history, the legacy of our past members,
and we’re not about to give that away.
The people of British Columbia deserve
cost certainty, and a safe and efficient
work site.”
families who have lost loved ones.
Local 793 Business Manager and
IUOE VP Mike Gallagher said in his
remarks that the government and
health and safety agencies have to take
action to reduce deaths on worksites.
“We have to increase our efforts
tenfold and we have to go out there
and we have to tell the government the
only consideration that matters is not
whether they get re-elected or not,” he
said, “it’s whether our workers get to
return home at the end of the day.”
Gallagher said there are new
technologies, new equipment and new
methods coming into the workforce, yet
the system moves slowly.
“We move at a glacial pace to get the
job done, to protect the workers that we
send out to work every single day and
it’s a damn shame,” he said. “We should
move faster, put a higher priority, stop
every other consideration except for
protecting workers out on the job.”
IUOE General President Callahan,
who lost a brother due to an illness from
[above] The monument outside Local
793’s head office in Oakville.
[photo] IUOE Local 793
the cleanup after the collapse of the
World Trade Centre in New York City,
said the monument and garden are a
moving tribute to Operating Engineers
and fallen workers.
“This is a thought-provoking
monument, I have to say,” he said in
his remarks. “Walking through there, it
stirred up what the Operating Engineers
are all about.”
When a family member is killed
at work, Callahan said, it’s one of the
most devastating things to get over
because there was no opportunity to say
goodbye.
“If there’s any solace to that, it’s
when your loved one fell they never
touched the ground because there were
380,000 Operating Engineers that ran to
them spiritually and looked out for their
families afterwards, and that’s what a
brotherhood is all about.”
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